Returning to the civil liberties violations of the McCarthy era, it should be added that often even erroneous charges by anti-Communists do not merit the harsh condemnation conventionally meted out by the establishment. The errors were quite understandable. Since liberal policies were so similar to those of Soviet Communism, it was hard to determine whether a person was following a pro-Soviet policy because he was a Soviet agent or merely out of sincere, liberal beliefs. Instead of showing a grave flaw in anti-Communism, however, this would seem to show something seriously amiss with liberalism. In short, liberalism propounded views beneficial to Soviet Communism that were completely contrary to reality and harmful to the interests of the United States. Objectively speaking, it did not really matter whether an individual was aiding the Soviet Union because he was a Communist or from a liberal vision of world peace, support for the underdog, destruction of evil, etc. To combat Communism successfully, it was essential to remove liberals from critical posts in the government. As James Burnham pointed out “What communism does is to carry the liberal principles to their logical and practical extreme….The liberal’s arm cannot strike with consistent firmness against communism, either domestically or internationally, because the liberal dimly feels that in doing so he would be somehow wounding himself.”[86] That Soviet Communism eventually fell came about largely despite the efforts of American liberalism.